The superbly staged film is based on three short stories and was realized by the directors John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper.

Oddly enough, there are two R-Rated versions of Body Bags in the USA, because the releases on VHS and DVD contain different versions. The R-Rated DVD is noticeably more censored than the R-Rated-VHS-version. A completely uncut version was only released in France, Australia and Great Britain.

Many thanks to Il Gobbo for providing the Unrated version.

1 Min

R-Rated:John Carpenter is slicing a corpse. Unlike in the Unrated version, this only happens in the off and is shown from another perspective.

Unrated:Here, he puts a scalpel on the dead body and makes a semicircular cut. Then, he lifts the skin up a little and plays on the guts with the scalpel.
no time difference

18 MinThe dead homeless sitting in the car with his throat cut can be seen longer.
1 sec

23 MinThe car with Anne inside is being lifted by the auto hoist. Then a cut to the killer Bill.
5 sec

23 MinAt the beginning, Bill can be seen a little longer.
1 sec

24 MinWhen Bill gets crushed by the car a fountain of blood is spraying. Insert of Anne. Then, we see Bill under the car, once again, meanwhile lying in a pool of his own blood.
4 sec

24 MinWe see the crushed Bill in a profile shot.
5 sec

24 Min

R-Rated:When John is talking to the corpse the R-Rated version shows this from another perspective.
+2 sec

Unrated:Here, John can be seen longer. And after that, we also get to see the corpse sitting across from him in a close up.
3 sec

R-Rated

Unrated

25 SekJohn opens the cooler and tries to pull out the stretcher. But it is jammed so John has to help a little. When he has finally pulled it out we see a woman with big breasts lying on it. John inspects the breasts a bit closer while he is saying: these closets must have been built before implants got that popular! Nice things, should be recycled! He goes to the next cooler and pulls out another corpse.
John: this looks strange!
He pulls out a third corpse from the cooler.
John: Oh, maybe a marital quarrel! Kiss and hug!
Now, he takes the separated heads of the two corpses and presses their lips together. Then he throws the heads to the back.
37 sec

49 MinThe following is completely missing: Richard is driving to Dr. Lock and after a while a worm comes crawling out of his face.
12 sec

50 MinSlightly more of Dr. Lock slicing open Richard's arm.
0,25 sec

50 MinAgain slightly longer how a few worms look out of the gash in Richard's arm.
2 sec

50 Min

R-Rated:Here, a new shot of the assistant and Richard has been inserted while Dr. Lock is talking to him in the foreground.
+7 sec

Unrated:

27 secTwo worms are crawling out of Dr. Lock's eye. He holds his finger under his eye while the worms are wiggling on it. Then he goes to Richard, talks to him and then drops the worms on his head.
27 sec

R-Rated

Unrated

52 Min

R-Rated:An alternative shot of two covered corpses has been added, here.

Unrated:The Unrated shows two corpses, too, with the difference that one of them is lying uncovered on the stretcher.
no time difference

R-Rated

Unrated

52 Min

R-Rated:As above, an alternative shot of the covered corpses is being shown.

Unrated:While we get to see two uncovered torn up corpses, here.
no time difference

R-Rated

Unrated

56 MinBrent can be seen longer with the pieces of glass in his eye.
0,5 sec

56 secSame here.
10 sec

60 Min

R-Rated:From a little further away, Brent is shown being fomented by the doctors during the eye surgery.

Unrated:Here, he gets the new eye implanted which used to belong to a murderer.
no time difference

R-Rated

Unrated

60 Min

R-Rated:Again Brent being operated by the doctors from another perspective. The camera zooms out.

Unrated:Several doctors are bent over Brent. After that, the camera zooms in to his newly implanted eye.
no time difference

R-Rated

Unrated

75 MinCathy is talking to Brent's doctor on the phone longer. Brent wants Cathy to hang up again. When she does he starts approaching her.
49 sec

75 Min

R-Rated:A shot of Cathy has been inserted.
+2 sec

Unrated:Two shots of the decayed Cathy from Brent's vision such as falling garden clippers.
4 sec

R-Rated

Unrated

75 Min

R-Rated:Again, the decayed Cathy as an alternative shot.
+1 sec

Unrated:The Unrated version, however, shows several shots of Brent, the decayed Cathy which can be seen longer, the falling garden clippers and Brent sexually offending Cathy.
9 sec

R-Rated

Unrated

75 MinWhen Brent bites into Cathy's shoulder and then pushes her aside the camera has a different position in the two versions.
The Unrated version is 1.5 sec longer

R-Rated

Unrated

75 MinAgain, the two versions use different perspectives of Brent lying on the bed naked.
no time difference

R-Rated

Unrated

84 MinThe Unrated version shows Brent piling garden clippers into his eye. In the R-Rated version, however, a black frame has been added.
The R-Rated version is 0.75 sec longer

84 MinBrent falls to the ground with the garden clippers in his eye. The camera tracks away from him.
10 sec

84 MinWe see Brent lying on a body bag with his eye excelled.
1 sec

86 MinThe forensic doctor (Tom Arnold) has returned and prepares for another part of the autopsy. He reaches into John's open stomach and digs into it a bit. Then he takes out an organ and puts it to the side after having looked at it a bit. Then he pulls out John's liver and jocularly aks him if he drank formaldehyde. Then, the second forensic doctor (Tobe Hooper) returns with two cans of coffee.
Tobe: so, how is it going?
Tom: Give me the head saw!
John: Head saw?
The camera tracks away from the screaming John who is now being shown with his stomach open. Meanwhile Tom puts the saw on John's head and starts sawing.
31 sec